He said the ocean side of the island chain was "absolutely smashed," with many boats and homes leveled by more than a day of hurricane force winds.

The good news is that officials believe that many residents safely evacuated before the storm, he reported.

Housley spoke to one couple who tried to ride out the storm but eventually had to flee to a nearby house. They worked with the residents to cut a hole in the second story of the home to enter and survive the six-foot-high storm surge.

"The hospitals are closed, there are no ambulance services whatsoever, the sheriff's department is not responding to calls. Obviously if it's a serious emergency, they will," Housley reported. "Right now they're just assessing streets, where they can get in, where they cannot get it to check on people, if they're alive or not, who stayed, who didn't stay."